Beat the Brewer Recipe Ideas

If he has 8 weeks and doesn't mind not using hops, this is a pretty good idea.

 

Yeah, I mean, the keg has to be turned in on November 3, which is tight timing (7 weeks). But on the upside, the beer isn't being bottled, so there's no danger of bottle bombs, and maybe it will sit for a while longer before being judged. Speaking personally, mixed fermentation is the approach I would take. Partly this would be out of curiosity, but I also think it's a reasonably good way to deal with this malt bill. I am almost tempted to try it myself, but I'm not going to do that. I guess you should check to make sure it's okay given that I suppose the beer will be dispensed on someone else's tap system.

Again speaking personally, I would go with a vial or two of Yeast Bay's Melange or perhaps a couple of packs of their beta sour blend (or both!).(I have no affiliate with Yeast Bay.) There are plenty of other vendors with good blends, although it appears Bootleg Biology is out of stock right now on the blend I would recommend from that source. Just don't use Wyeast's Roselare, which has a reputation for not getting the beer very sour.

I agree with EvenMoreJesus that hops shouldn't be used in this scenario. Just give it a good blast of oxygen (which Brett really likes) and ferment in the low 70s and see what happens. It might not turn out great, but again, it's a "go for it on 4th down when you need a touchdown to win" kind of situation in my view, and it's not as though the other options are great.

But I get it if you decide to go with a different approach. Sours aren't for everyone. Good luck!

 

Yeah . . . don't do that.

Well . . . at least the first generation of it. IMO, takes up until the third gen. to really hit its stride

 

As mentioned above I would use about 14/15 lbs and do a Belgium style using trappist yeast and then let it sit on cherries. The sour ideal is also good.

 

Brut IIPA ...a real test for the Amyloglucosidase

 

This thread is very entertaining. Carry on...

 

Cut your sparge early, liquor down heavily and hop with EKG. You should be able to pull a decent Best Bitter out of that grain bill, I’d imagine...

 

A sour in a month? GTFO. Add 5% chocolate malt throw some abbey ale yeast and some candi sugar and call it a bsda

 

A Best Bitter with 17+ lbs. of grain in a 5 gallon batch? You'd have to dilute those first runnings quite a bit.

 

Keg must be turned in by November 3, that's closer to 7 weeks than a month. @EvenMoreJesus reports that a mixed fermentation sour can be ready to go in 8 weeks, so it doesn't seem like a huge stretch to me. I'd add that one premise of my advice is that it's better to take chances in a competition like this. With complete control of the malt bill, you could simply brew something you know to be excellent, but that's not an option here. Setting yourself apart from the crowd seems like a good strategy to me.

 

When life gives you lemons...
My first idea was to dump the first runnings altogether, then add Pilsner as your 5% bonus grain to the mash and just submit the second runnings beer, but that seemed wasteful.

 

There are so many off flavor compounds that are likely to be created by pedio and brett while they do their work it's more than likely that the beer will be immature. We are talking about a beer that could need up to a year to hit its stride, and the op needs it done and amazing by the first week ofNovember. . I'm not saying it's impossible, maybe @OldSock can weigh in, but I do feel the likelihood of failure is greater than a clean beer would be.

 

Just because he is turning in 5 gallons doesn't mean he can't run off 10. Or 8. Or 25.

Edit, the op could run off enough for 2x 5 gallon batches, brew two separate beers and enter the best one. Possibly steep some specialty grains in one etc.

 

Yeah I mean I've been meaning to ask @EvenMoreJesus about this. Personally I've only brewed a couple of mixed fermentation sours, and I let them go for at least six months before bottling them. But @EvenMoreJesus seems to have experience indicating that an extended aging time is not necessary.

 

I guess I should justify my response. I'm not saying that these beers will be mature at this point. I'm just saying that they'll be ready to package, as they'll have reached a stable terminal and will develop in the bottle. In my mind, extended aging equals more oxygen exposure, which is usually not a positive thing.

 

Kinda what I was thinking. It’s a way to minimize the damage of that horrid grain bill. And if everybody else uses the whole bill and tries to polish that turd, having the only drinkable beer in the lineup might be the golden ticket!
I live for bending the rules...

 

[Gilda Radner voice] Never mind!

I mean I don't know. I worry about oxygenation too, and it's why I don't take a lot of samples from my mixed fermentation beers early on. So I don't really know what they taste like at 8 weeks. I was moving one from one fermenter to another at about 4 weeks one time and I tasted the beer, and it was really thick, I think maybe ropy. I didn't try it again for months, so I have no idea how it was 4 weeks later.

 

That's the rub, terminal gravity and ready to drink are miles apart with sours. Pedio throws a buttload of diacetyl, among other off flavor compounds like butyric acid. It can take the bugs weeks or months to clean that mess up. Adding oxygen won't help either. Soooooo, split batch double runoff one clean one sour?

 

Ehh . . . Pediococcus sp. only make VDKs and EPS when they are in their log. phase, so if you pitch enough and yeast is still active in solution this won't be an issue. I've never heard of pedio making butyric acid, though. Clostridium sp., on the other hand . . .

That said, I do agree with you that "ready to package" and "optimum flavor profile" may not be one in the same. However, when you have a deadline, sometimes you have to take what you're given.